agents tag

Drill down on agents search:

The TCA, the only non-profit trade association for the channel partners (VAR's, agents, inter-connects, YOU), has a lot going on in the next two months. Heading into CPExpo in Orlando, the TCA will hold its fifth Channel Chief Summit....

When I have spoken to Broadsoft customers, there has often been speculation that Broadsoft would have to go direct. The hope at the Cloud Communications Alliance was that all of them would be merged into one retail company. Did something...

There has been an discussion about the Transactional Agent - and his demise. I beg to differ. I think The Cloud will end up being transactional as well.A couple of months ago, Microsoft lowered its pricing on Office 365 in...

Tonight at a networking event I met a former VZ employee - a channel manager for the last 5 years. He told me he was going to be an Agent to put his telecom knowledge to work to fund his life's endeavors....

Comcast rolled out Xfinity Platinum service with speeds of 305Mbps down and 65Mbps up for about $295. It was designed to compete with VZ Quantum FiOS, which is 300Mbps down, 65Mbps up, and $205 per month in the Northeast. Xfinity...

There have been some changes in the Channel. Agents need to pay attention because this will result in even more changes in the Channel! Windstream laid off their Channel Chief, Dan Sterling. Windstream has been trimming the management fat this...

Sat in on the CenturyLink Channel Alliance - Get back in the Game Roadshow in Tampa this morning. It was nice to see Stacy Conrad from Microcorp; Josh Anderson and his co-workers from Telephony Partners; Dale Tucker from CCA;...

I write about Low Price a lot. While reading a trade journal, it got me thinking again about why this industry sells on price. My thoughts: You go low price because you either don't want to take the effort...

There is a lot of chatter in the Channel about Transactional agents being replaced by VAR's and Consultative Agents. I see Master Agents having to do a similar dance real soon.Tech Data is one of the largest VAD (value added...

There is a lot of talk in the Channel about Agent exclusivity to Master Agencies. Most of the talk is from Masters.Telecom is an industry of short memory. We forget everything.We forget that MCI left many agents high and dry...

The new myth about the Channel that everyone is spouting is doom and gloom. In Larry Walsh's latest, he talks about VAR's closing, vendors selling direct and other woes.Here's some news for you: the Channel has ALWAYS competed with Direct...

One thing you may have to answer as an Agent is "Why should someone buy from you?" They could call the carrier directly. Here are the top 5 reasons a business customer should work with an Agent.Number 1: Saves time!...

This came across my twitter stream this week:"Must-read for founders: A VC explains how to build a killer value proposition" on VentureBeat by Michael Skok, a Venture Capitalist at North Bridge Venture Partners. His slideshare page contains a couple of...

Over at CP, the transactional agents are being called Prostitutes and Zombies in opinion pieces. I find that sad considering that the Zombie comment comes from a guy who whined because he couldn't make huge commissions off call centers any...

Is it Cloud versus Agents?As an Agent, I sell bandwidth and transport almost exclusively. I am learning that the Channel does not want that business. The carriers do, but on the wholesale/carrier side. No 10GB private lines. No 1GB ports....

TNCI (Trans National Communications International) filed for Bankruptcy in October of 2011, owing Sprint ($5M), AT&T ($1.66M), Verizon ($1M) and Qwest ($1.9M). VZ and AT&T have liquidated CLEC's before for less than $2M. I'm not trying to be pessimistic here,...

These were my thoughts on the 2011 CPZ that I was a panelist on. These are my thoughts as a reaction to the latest CPZ. Surprisingly, not everyone read my post about how the whole telecom eco-system is shifting. Agents,...

NetWolves announced alst week that they signed a Charter School Management Group for a three-year contract worth $1.9M. This opportunity came from the Channel.US Telecom Group, a sub-agent of PlanetOne, teamed with NetWolves to design the solution that won the...

I had a long talk with Greg Plum, new VP of Channel Development at start-up, SmartMeeting.com at ITEXPO East. He agreed to a short interview. What's the special sauce for StartMeeting? StartMeeting incorporates components of web conferencing...

It was a big surprise this morning to hear that Zayo bought AboveNet for $2.2B. My first thought was "Where did Zayo get the money?" I mean, the Dealbook writes, "As of Dec. 31, Zayo had about $25.9 million in...

EarthLink is just one company that hopes the Channel will embrace VDI, virtual desktop infrastructure. "IndependenceIT™ (iIT), provider of the Freedom desktop workspace, today announced at XChange Solution Provider 2012 that it has signed an agreement with EarthLink. Under the...

TDM is running out of runway. Agents have already switched to selling Ethernet, MPLS and SIP Trunking. What else can they be selling? Back-up, like Conferencing, is a cash cow that Agents just don't sell. From archiving email per federal...

Cbeyond laid off 200 employees last week. "The company said it is reducing its traditional entry level direct sales force by about half while building a new direct sales group dedicated to managing existing and new technology dependent customers."In...

At The CPZ, the rest of the panel were cloud guys (VAR's and Hosted UC). This is a snippet of the conversation where the panel is talking about how transactional telecom sales are dead, long live the Cloud! People deemed...